Quantifying restrictions in worker participation, including absenteeism, sick leave, and presenteeism (i.e., reduced productivity because of ill health), is an important outcome from a patient’s perspective and is increasingly seen as a health outcome to target for improvement. People with rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases (RMD) can experience variable levels of presenteeism and absenteeism depending on their health status, job demands, or other personal or environmental contextual factors.

During the last 8 years, the Outcome Measures in Rheumatology (OMERACT) Worker Productivity Group has evaluated available measures to assess worker productivity loss, initiated new research to fill in knowledge gaps regarding psychometric properties, and appraised these measures against the OMERACT Filter 2.1